Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and Harper Collins Children's books for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: Ghost stories, friendship, non binary mc

This was very different than what I thought it would be. It's cheesy, cute, and funny. It's a great story of acceptance and friendship. liked it. I highly recommend it.

When Sully, a non-binary teen stuck in their small town after high school, discovers a vintage designer bag haunted by Rufus—a drag queen from the 1950s—a one-of-a-kind friendship begins. Together, they unravel the mystery of Rufus’s past and end up learning even more about themselves along the way.

Rufus deserved more from the world in his time, just as Sully deserves more from the narrow-minded people in their small town who refuse to celebrate them for who they are. But in each other, and the support of family and friends, they find joy, connection, and unexpected belonging.

This story is fun and full of witty characters that made me laugh, but it’s also deeply meaningful and necessary. The way society so often rejects and judges the trans, non-binary, and drag communities never ceases to infuriate me and break my heart. But books like this push back against that hate with messages of love and the power of community to overcome adversity.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I didn’t receive the ARC until very close to the release date, so I’m late on my review but so glad I finally read this one!

This was a very different experience than I expected, but in a really great way. There’s nothing more special to me than a book about knowing and respecting history. This is a beautiful story about queer history and refusing to allow those stories to be erased.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Childrens books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was DELIGHTFUL. As soon as I saw JVN and Julie Murphy I knew IMMEDIATELY I wanted to read it. It was so sweet and special. Sully was such an incredibly MC. Their journey to find community in both the family they were born into and their found family was heartwarming. As someone who great up somewhere that reminded me a lot of Hearst, it was also really heartwarming to imagine a special queer community in a place that maybe doesn't seem very welcoming to LGBTQIA people.

I loved the way the reveal happened in the end. I was so happy for Rufus!

I want every teen who feels like maybe they don't fit in or are "too much" for any community to read this book. It was such a special journey!

I was excited about the opportunity to read this book because JVN is one of the highlights of Queer Eye. I haven’t read any of Murphy’s books, but I do own several and based on my reading experience with this book, my interest is piqued!
Sully is an absolute sweetheart. They put all their eggs into one basket with the internship, and they didn’t really have a contingency plan. They don’t even have a car anymore either because they sold their car because they were planning to move to the big city. Needless to say, Sully certainly didn’t plan on discovering a ghost named Rufus in their recently acquired vintage bag!
This book is so sweet and tender. Helping Rufus solve the mystery of what happened to him gives Sully a purpose. The quest provides Sully with the opportunity to learn about local queer history (there has always been a presence). Sully is the best protagonist– so many funny quips and just all around a good kid.
I would absolutely recommend Let Them Stare. I’m always a little wary when it comes to celeb collab books, but this exceeded all my expectations. There is a sombre aspect to the historical aspects, but knowing about the past is integral to understanding queer history. The more serious moments don’t put a damper on the silly stuff and vice versa. There’s a nice balance. I’m going to have to go back and read Murphy’s other books and I hope this is not the last of JVN.s forays into fiction.


I received a digital ARC of this book from Harper Collins/NetGalley.

Loved it! This book just made me smile & had me loving the adventure it took me on reading it. Totally a must read!

This book is like if JVN wrote Pumpkin' - which makes perfect sense seeing as it was cowritten by Julie Murphy. You can really hear JVN's voice in this novel - so if that's not something that vibes with you, you probably won't enjoy this title. I really love JVN and I think it is a really solid first crack at fiction. I hope that they continue to write together because I think there is a lot of potential in this collaboration.

I was so excited to read this book by JVN and Julie Murphy. The paranormal setting offers a unique way to educate readers about LGBTQIA+ history, and I appreciated that the MC is non-binary. The characters are cute, and you can totally hear JVN's voice in Sully. In some ways, this felt more like a middle-grade book, particularly because of how heavy-handed the messaging is. This is a YA book, and I think young adults can be trusted to pick up on messages without the author repeating the same thing over and over. That said, I'm so glad this book exists, and I hope it finds its way into the hands of every reader who needs it.

I absolutely loved getting to know Sully and Rufus in this book. I thought it was such a fun read! Sully is such a strong character to show nonbinary life and challenges they face on a regular basis.

This was a lot of fun!! I feel like it had JVN's humor & sensibility with Julie Murphy's hand on the plot/character development and that all worked really well. I loved the haunted handbag plot & the look at small town queer history, and I loved Sully's increasing understanding of the way they can experience micro (and macro)-aggressions and yet also themselves cause harm to others.

Love all of Murphy’s books and deeply enjoyed this one that featured her signature warmth and humor. The plot was clever and engaging

What a beautiful, sweet, fun story! A small town, a ghost, the sass, the mystery! This is marketed as a YA novel but I adored it just the same.
"Why couldn't everyone be like her? Just little mom clones everywhere? An army of kitten heels!?"
"Sullying is a compliment! Thank you!"

This is such an important story! Yes, it skewed a bit young for me, but that’s to be expected since it is a YA novel and I am a 34-year-old woman. That said, it’s exactly the kind of book that needs to exist for young readers to feel seen, valued, and a little less alone!!

This story is bursting with heart and creativity—a ghost of a drag queen living in a designer purse?! I mean, obviously it’s a fun read. But beneath all the fabulous flair is a moving message about being true to yourself, finding your people, and understanding the history that shaped the queer community. There are moments that are genuinely heartbreaking, because queer history isn’t without pain, but the overall message is one of empowerment and belonging!

This book was a fantastic look at both queer rights of the present and future. Sully was a wonderful character to read about, especially as they learned more about the past and learned that sometimes the places we grow up in aren't so bad. Sully's development was fun to watch, and their friendship with Rufus grew, and they learn about the past. I loved the inclusion of the letters between the chapters, and how they worked to inform the narrative and let the reader piece together what was happening. I adored the character growth, and while sometimes the writing was a little too on the nose it never felt out of place and works fine for the target audience of the book. The relationships, both romantic and platonic, were amazing and very well written. The cover is fantastic, and the message of letting them stare is one that is desperately needed.

This was such a delight; I didn't know what to expect when I saw Jonathan Van Ness teamed up with Julie Murphy to write a YA book, but I had a fantastic time with it. I just love stories about queer elders and history! And Sully was a super fun main character, hilariously campy and incredibly compelling.

The funny parts of this book were really very funny—these authors have a real gift for humor and for slightly manic protagonists getting themselves into very humorous messes. The romance was also very cute and just the right amount of steamy for the target audience. The ghost concept was also a good source of humor, but the bits where the ghost mystery veered into seriousness, departing life and history lessons, seemed just a little underdeveloped and out of sync.

QUEEN Julie Murphy, let's just get that out of the way- I was not familiar with JVN as I learned he goes by- I had seen in passing and that he was on the new queer eye reboot, but together this book is so good! If you have ever been 18 and lived in a small town and waited for the day that you could get out, you'll understand Sully on the cusp of being able to get out, it didn't work after all.
Hoping to get some kind of semblance of his life back so he finds out. He's been replaced at his job. But as a consolation prize, he gets to go through a stack, that's
Items up for sale and he finds a find of a lifetime.
And with it rufus who needs to mysteryof the towns past figured out --- the story that is written is magical to say the least. It's a story of queer history which we need for people to understand now more than ever- sully gives very Schitts Creek David vibes and could totally see this being a movie- perfect for pride month

Thank you net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Hysterical and entertaining. Our first assignment is given at birth by whatever is found between our legs, and thus dictates our life path?
When it does not feel right, every action you take has to be momentous. To prove that you are here, you matter and exist.
Biting and realistic humor done with natural cadence and raw wit...Yes, it is all in the delivery (and the cover)
Learning & making the effort to understand is always easier with humor, and any read that can take you through all your emotions is a win.
This is not a queer book - it's an engaging funny cozy ghost mystery with a lesson in empathy for good measure
I will get off my soapbox and let these writers do what they do best.. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books | Storytide for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book was so fun! I read it in one day. I loved the storyline and the characters.. I would definitely recommend this book.

This is a sweet story of finding friendship and meaning in your hometown while also discovering its secrets. Sully wants nothing more than to escape Pennsylvania and make it to the big city of NYC after graduation. Non-binary and always feeling out of place with their family and town, they want the escape to a place more accepting. However, when the opportunity to leave for a job is cut short, Sully is stuck for the summer. While returning to their favorite sanctuary in town, they encounter a vintage bag worth a lot..not realizing it also came with a ghost! The spirit of Rufus, a drag queen from the 50s, doesn’t remember how he died or how he became tied to the bag. Sully helps him investigate what happened and how the town’s history came to be, while discovering and accepting that they have people in their corner right at home.
This is definitely designed with a YA audience in mind, but I still enjoyed JVN’s first novel and the story that came to be.
Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.